Charles Lotton Iridescent Art Glass Vase — Signed and Dated 1980

A small, perfect example of American studio glass by Charles Lotton, the self-taught Illinois glassblower whose work built directly on the Tiffany and Steuben iridescent tradition and now sits in museum collections including the Smithsonian.

The form is a compact ovoid with a gently flared neck, hand-blown and standing about four inches. The surface is where the piece earns its keep: a deeply iridized skin shifting between cobalt and peacock blue, warm amber, and flashes of violet depending on where the light falls. Trailed vines wind around the body in raised relief, catching a cooler silver-blue shimmer against broad leaf forms that pull toward bronze and gold. The texture is matte and slightly crazed rather than glossy — the ancient-glass effect that Lotton pursued in his Cypriot work, where the surface reads like something excavated rather than made.

At this scale it's a piece to hold. The iridescence changes materially as you turn it, and it will do the same across a day on a windowsill or shelf.

In pristine condition: no chips, cracks, scratches, or surface loss. Signed and dated Charles Lotton 1980 to the underside.